NSBNEWS.net photos by Henry Frederick. Robert Schaedel, 68, of 2864 Red Oak Circle in the Redlands retirement mobile home community, off U.S. in New Smyrna Beach, was killed Saturday when his residence caught fire.
NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A 68-year-old resident of the Redlands senior mobile-home park off U.S. 1, died Saturday in a blaze that fully engulfed his residence, officials said.
Robert Schaedel died in the 3:11 p.m. fire, but his wife, Mildred, who escaped the flames after trying to fight the fire, was treated at the scene for minor unspecified injuries.
Responding firefighters found the mobile home fully engulfed with a report of an occupant trapped inside. Firefighters were unable to rescue the victim, whose body was found when the flames were knocked down, said Randy Wright, division fire chief for New Smyrna Beach.
It took firefighters 20 minutes to get the fire under control, with extreme heat emanating from it that peeled off the exterior to the side of a nearby mobile home.
The fire was extinguished at 4:15 p.m. by New Smyrna Beach firefighters with assistance from fire departmens in Edgewater, Port Orange and Volusia County. With 40 firefighters in all, the flames were kept from other nearby homes as police evacuated people there.
The cause of the fire has not been determined, though after an initial investigation, it was deemed accidental, most likely from cigarette smoking by the deceased, Wright said. An investigation is ongoing by the New Smyrna Beach Fire Department and the State Fire Marshal's Office.